In response I'd say this is a potential problem in any domain. Over time, as fields become more popular and specialized, searches have to be more precise to yield the desired results. Google Scholar exists to solve this problem. (Later, one person noted that appending "-blog" to a Google search excludes blog entries from search results.)

I can't imagine an oncologist, for instance, suggesting that blogs about cancer are making it too difficult to find cancer research. It doesn't seem reasonable to hold usability blogs to a higher standard than in other disciplines. Specialized tools, or search terms, are required to find specialized information

2. Usability blogs are an echo chamber: bloggers just repeat the same points. It depends on the blog. Refer to the blogging spectrum diagram on the left. Some believe all blogs are in the top section of "linkdumps."

My blog postings fall in the middle of the spectrum, or closer to the bottom on a good day. I try to add value, and not post solely on current topics without adding my own spin.

3. Also related to the spectrum was a third objection: usability practitioners ought to be disseminating empirical evidence, rather than commentary on topics. When not backed up by research, opinions can be harmful, giving a false impression that user experience is driven by pundits rather than objective research.

As the spectrum shows, original research is only one possible blog role. Blogs are also for discussion, interpretation, commenting and criticizing.

To my mind, this comment points to an insecurity in usability practitioners' minds. If we only allow ourselves to post online content that is original and backed up by research, user experience will be a poverty-stricken field indeed. I'm very interested in the thoughts, opinions, and anecdotes of usability professionals.

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First off, I'd like to just say that I think you're putting some great information out there, and I really appreciate your obvious passion for putting usability priniciples to work.

As an experimental psychologist and former academic, I have every respect for the important work that goes on in the laboratory, but I left academia out of a desire to apply what I'd learned. If all of us were researchers, we might produce a lot of good information, but what's the point if no one's putting it to use?

More to the point, I find the idea that only scientists can understand and appreciate usability to be not only arrogant, but completely contrary to the point. We don't get to mandate usability from the mountaintop; the users decide what they like. We can filter that and seek to understand them in controlled settings, but we also have to shut up and listen once in a while.

I'm actually frustrated that there aren't MORE user experience blogs. Or I might be frustrated that finding the user experience blogs that already exist is so difficult (I won't know which is the case until I find out whether there's a bunch of hidden blogs).

Side rant: In the early days of blogs it was considered rude to have a blog without a blogroll. I see too many blogs nowadays without it. It makes it much more difficult to find good blogs. Thanks for doing one, Joshua.

Anyway, here's the thing about blogs. When I first started in UX, every problem I encountered was a completely novel problem... to me. So what did I do? Sometimes I "invented" my own solution. Sometimes I asked my more experienced colleagues for advice. I rarely, if ever, went to the internet for help. As time went by, the number of problems I had encountered and the number of solutions I had attempted skyrocketed. And, like most UXers, I discovered that this is a HARD job. And the rate of problems I encounter remains constant.

Blogs provide a way for me to discover how other people have dealt with problems that I haven't encountered yet. It allows me to learn without the pain of experience. And, I hope, I'm doing the same thing with my blog - someone else might learn from my particular experiences. Is there a lot of repetition of the same points? I suppose. But everyone has the own perspective, and I think nuance is interesting.

The critics are missing the point. Blogs are... erm... social networking tools too! Heck, I met you blogging!

Blogging also helps us develop as a community in an relatively new industry that lacks a decent amount of rigorous academic literature.

Perhaps if usability had been practiced more broadly for a longer time, and academia (and IT and business) gave it the airtime it deserves then we would have more literature to 'QUOTE'. We don't, so we'll CREATE IT ourselves based on experience!!

From a personal perspective, blogs are also tools for mental stimulation. I talked about Aerobics for the mind on my blog http://usableworld.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentNews.newsDetails&newsID=27808&from=list&directoryId=5253